Posts Tagged ‘Alan Grayson’

During her time in the United States House of Representatives Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) has been a laughing stock. From calling on a violent revolution in the streets to blaming Democrats for swine flu, Bachmann has pushed the limit on reasonable thought.

Put the coke down.

But hold all insanity queries until tomorrow because Bachmann has temporarily regained intelligence. Bachmann, along with Alan Grayson (D-FL), Ron Paul (R-TX), Walter Jones (R-NC), Peter Defazio (D-OR) and Corrine Brown (D-FL) signed a letter today encouraging more transparency in the activities of the Federal Reserve.

Here is the full letter:

Dear Chairman Spratt,

As you meet with fellow conferees to reconcile the House- and Senate-passed budget resolutions, we urge you to adopt the Senate provision regarding the Deficit Neutral Reserve Fund for Increased Transparency at the Federal Reserve in the final version of the resolution. This language calls for the Federal Reserve to identify banks and other financial institutions that have received more than $2.2 trillion in taxpayer-backed loans and other financial assistance since March 24, 2008.

Under Chairman Bernanke, the central banking system has opened a range of extraordinary funding facilities that are providing additional credit to banks, large financial institutions, and primary brokers, as well as guaranteeing commercial paper. All of this activity is happening in secret, with the Federal Reserve disbursing money and credit to the large financial institutions that have put our credit markets and economy at risk. The Federal Reserve has resisted FOIA requests, and will not make public even the terms of payment for the contractors it is using to run these extraordinary programs.

At the very least, Congress and the public should have knowledge about which banks are receiving taxpayer money, what they are doing with the money, and the credit risk taxpayers are taking on through the Federal Reserve. The Senate language encourages such transparency, allowing for audits and public disclosure of secret loans and financial assistance from the Federal Reserve to these large institutions.

We urge you to include the Senate language in the final Budget Resolution.

The Federal Budget today passed the House of Representatives without a single Republican vote. How’s that for bipartisanship?